


How I Met Your Father

by QueenThayet



Series: Swanboxed [1]
Category: Swan Song - Fandom, Unboxed - Amy Crook
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Box!Matt, Curtain Fic, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Family Fluff, Key!Patrick, Kid Fic, M/M, Unboxed AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-23
Updated: 2018-09-23
Packaged: 2019-07-15 21:15:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16071497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenThayet/pseuds/QueenThayet
Summary: So this puts the characters from Swan Song into an Unboxed Soulmates AU where Patrick and Matt bonded right away and didn't break up, but still ended up having Kylie, Miranda, Hailey, and Adam through a surrogate. The girls finally ask about how they met and Matt and Patrick share some stories from their relationship, including how hard it can be to make things work, even if you're soulmates.





	How I Met Your Father

**Author's Note:**

  * For [swtalmnd](https://archiveofourown.org/users/swtalmnd/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Swan Song (Part 3)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15105194) by [earlgreytea68](https://archiveofourown.org/users/earlgreytea68/pseuds/earlgreytea68). 



> Happiest of Birthdays to the Dearest of Amys! So I was originally going to write the story of their first meeting/bonding, but that wasn't working exactly how I wanted to. So I had them tell the story to their kids instead. I hope you enjoy this crossover with Unboxed! Happy Birthday! 
> 
> Thank you to egt who lets me play with her wonderful characters and who helped me bounce ideas for this off of her when my first plan wasn't working out.

Patrick walked into the kitchen and heard the tail end of a conversation Kylie was having with Matt. 

“…of course you _can_ tell anyone you want, but it’s none of their business and it’s not going to stop them from being jerks. They’ll just pick a key stereotype to make fun of you for,” Matt said, wrapping his arm around Kylie comfortingly. 

“So what do you do?” Kylie asked, sniffling a little. 

“Try to ignore them, get through it, and turn it into art,” Matt said, shrugging. “Middle school is pretty much rough all around. Sometimes I think you just have to survive it.” 

“Thanks, Dad,” Kylie said, giving him a big hug. She looked up and then saw Patrick standing in the door to the kitchen. 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to intrude, I was just going to start on lunch. Could you run and get your sisters?” Patrick asked as he walked purposefully toward the fridge to start taking out sandwich fixings. 

“What was that about?” Patrick asked as Matt came up behind him to press a kiss to the back of his neck. 

“Kids being mean at school. I think it’s probably handled. She’ll talk to you about it if she wants to.” 

Matt went upstairs to retrieve Adam from his crib and Patrick had assembled a veritable smorgasbord of sandwich options by the time Kylie, Miranda, and Hailey made it back to the kitchen, with Matt and Adam on their heels. 

“Reed-Usher children, we have, for your nourishment: cold cuts, cheeses of all sorts, marinated tofu, various vegetable slices, egg salad, and of course peanut butter and jelly. Please also do not neglect the fruit I have provided for you to eat with your sandwiches,” Patrick said theatrically. All three of his older children rolled their eyes at his ridiculousness, but enthusiastically grabbed plates and began to assemble their lunches of choice. 

Once everyone was settled in at the table, Patrick got out a jar of mashed carrots out to feed Adam after the bottle Matt was giving him, and began to eat his own lunch quickly. 

“Dad?” Kylie asked with forced casualness, while refusing to meet his eyes, “Did people make fun of you for being a key back in school?” 

Patrick looked up from his lunch and thought for a second. “I’m not really sure, sweetie. I don’t know if anyone even knew I was a key. I was always so busy with music, between the lessons my parents made me take and trying to find time to write and play my own music.” 

“Do you remember? Did people make fun of Dad for being a key back in school?” Kylie directed her question toward Matt. 

“I don’t know, kiddo. I didn’t meet your dad until we were 18.” 

“Wait, I thought you bonded when you were 18,” Kylie looked suspicious and had completely let go or her earlier topic. Miranda and Hailey suddenly looked interested in the conversation.

“We did,” Matt said easily, as Patrick blushed slightly. They had never really told the whole story of how they met and got together to the girls, preferring to stick to generalities. 

“I always thought you were like, friends all your lives and then bonded as soon as you could,” Kylie narrowed her eyes at her dads, as if she were evaluating which one she could get to crack. 

“Not quite,” Patrick said before taking a bite of his sandwich. 

Miranda raised an eyebrow at Matt, who raised his own eyebrow in return. 

“Aren’t you going to tell us?” Hailey asked finally. “Is it bad? Is that why you won’t tell us?”

“No, it’s not bad,” Matt said, looking at Patrick earnestly. 

“No, it’s not bad,” Patrick swallowed and said. “I just didn’t want you getting the wrong idea about how all this goes, because we made some very…impulsive decisions as very very young adults, and we don't necessarily want to encourage you to do the same thing.” 

“Why? You’re happy aren’t you?” Miranda asked, her eyes suddenly worried. 

“Oh, darling, we are so happy,” Patrick reassured her, Matt nodding along. “But being happy, even as soulmates is work. All relationships are work. And even though being soulmates gave us a few advantages, that doesn’t guarantee happiness. I look back at how young we were then and kind of want to shake some sense into us.” 

“Yeah, but at the same time, I also wouldn’t want to change a thing and risk missing out on everything we have,” Matt said. 

“Okay, now you _have_ to tell us how you met,” Kylie insisted. 

“We met at an open mic night at a bar near where I was in college,” Patrick said, thinking back to that night. He was performing his own music for the first time, which was nerve-wracking. But it was in front of an audience that wasn’t automatically hostile, so that was certainly a plus. He had been fiddling with his key while he waited, a nervous habit that he’d never outgrown.

“Your Dad was performing a song he wrote and it was wonderful. He caught my attention as soon as he started playing,” Matt smiled over at his husband. “I wanted to go talk to him after he played, to ask if he wanted to join my band, with Aunt Anna and Uncle David.”

“That was Swan, right?” Hailey asked excitedly. She loved stories about their time in Swan. They had put the band on hiatus when they decided to start a family, and even though they got back together every so often to perform at special events, like charity shows, the girls had never really experienced both their parents as rock stars. They were used to Matt performing solo and going off and doing his TV show, but Patrick was just their stay-at-home dad who wrote songs. 

“Yes, that was Swan,” Patrick affirmed. 

“Anyway, I was walking up to him and I saw him spinning his key on the chain around his neck. I saw the design and knew that it matched my box. So I convinced him to let me come home with him so we could write a song together. And I made him stop at my room first so I could grab my box and my guitar. And then after we had written an incredible song, I showed him my box. And he tried his key and the rest was history.” Matt’s face had gone all soft with the memory, and he had a soppy smile that Patrick not-so-secretly adored. 

“Oh my god, you let him unlock you the night you met!” Kylie was scandalized. 

“I unlocked _his box_ , Kylie,” Patrick said firmly. 

“Don’t be a boxist,” Miranda said defensively. 

“I’m not,” Kylie said, holding up her hands in surrender. “I’m just surprised. Especially since they’re always going on and on about waiting and not jumping into a relationship.” 

“Yeah, but they were _soulmates_ ,” Hailey said, clasping her hands together. “That’s different! I think it’s so romantic!” 

Patrick sighed. “This is a little bit what I was afraid of. Yes it is romantic, but it was also very impulsive, and even though it worked out, it might have been better or easier if we had gotten to know each other better first. Soulmate bonds are forever. So even if the relationship doesn’t work out, you can’t ever get rid of that bond.” 

“Did you think that was going to happen?” Hailey asked in a small voice. 

“At some points, yes.” Patrick said. All three girls looked shocked. Matt sighed, and handed Adam over to Patrick.

“So y’know that soulmates can feel some of the things the other is feeling, right?” Matt sat down next to Hailey, who now looked like she was going to cry. She nodded. 

“Well, when you are very young and in a relationship, you’re not always good at knowing what you want, or what makes you happy, and even if you know, you’re not always good at asking for it. Starting a rock band is hard work, and touring can be really stressful. There were times that I could tell your dad was unhappy, but he wasn’t telling me why, and I felt like it had to be my fault, but I didn’t know how to fix it,” Matt explained gently. 

“How did you fix it?” Miranda asked. 

“Well, it helped that your dad could feel me getting more and more upset on his side of the bond, so we finally sat down and talked to each other. Well, ‘talked’. It was more like a big screaming fight. But we got everything out there. We wanted different things at that point in our lives, which was making us unhappy. But we still wanted to be together, so then we had to figure out how to work together to fix it.” 

Patrick thought back to that fight. It had been so horrible, everything that he was trying to avoid by just trying to say everything was fine. He hated yelling and being yelled at and he’d rather just minimize conflict and be unhappy than have to deal with a loud fight. But doing that was hurting Matt, which Patrick also didn’t want to do. So they’d had it out. Patrick didn't want to be a full time rock star. Patrick wanted to settle down, to have a permanent home, to start a family. Matt didn’t. Or at least Patrick thought he didn’t. It was true that Matt wasn’t ready to give up being a rock star, but it turned out that he was willing to give up Swan. They talked to Anna and David and decided to take an indefinite hiatus. Anna used her Swan money to start making documentaries. David met Cora and they decided they wanted to get married even though they weren’t a match. Matt started his solo career and Patrick helped him write his songs. 

“So how did you fix it?” Miranda asked again. 

“Well, we put Swan on hiatus. We got officially married and started wearing our rings all the time. The label didn’t want us to wear our rings in public for the band because they thought it would make us less marketable. Your dad hated that,” Matt said. 

“And we bought a house, and started looking into surrogacy while Matt established himself as a solo artist,” Patrick added. “He toured a bit until we got you, Kylie. And then he mostly tried to do local stuff, because he didn’t want to be gone too much.” 

Patrick smiled as he remembered how shocked Matt had been the day they brought Kylie home from the hospital. He kept repeating, “she’s so tiny, how is she so tiny?” He wiped the mashed carrots off of Adam’s face, thinking about how much he had grown since they’d brought him home. He tickled underneath Adam’s now clean chin, happy that he got to have this time with all of their children. 

“So did people make fun of you for being a stay-at-home dad even though you’re a key?” Kylie asked, coming back around to her original question. 

“I don’t know. Probably, people are always willing to say mean things about other people on the internet. We didn’t really publicize who was the box and who was the key, just that we were soulmates. And we couldn’t even admit to that when we were in Swan. I did really hate that part, you’re right.” 

“Of course I’m right, I’m the world’s leading expert on Patrick Reed.” Matt said smugly, walking back over to drop a kiss on the top of Patrick’s head, and then Adam’s as well. 

“I know teenagers are full of assumptions about how boxes and keys are supposed to act, but it really isn’t like that anymore. Most people don’t make it public if they are a box or a key. The vast majority of people don’t even end up with their soulmates, which basically makes the whole box and key thing irrelevant. You’re just a person, and should be who you want to be, no matter what other people think,” Matt said firmly. 

“Ugh, you say that like it’s easy,” Kylie huffed. 

“If you wear steel-toed boots and you aren’t afraid to use them, people won’t make fun of you whether you're a box or a key,” Miranda added. Matt high-fived her as Patrick sighed. 

“No, it’s not easy, but it’s worth it,” Patrick said. “I tried for a long time to be someone my parents wanted me to be, and I wasn’t happy. Matt helped me realize that I could be my own person and that I was allowed to be happy. You should listen to him, he’s very wise.” 

“I’m sorry, could you say that again, I need to get that for my ringtone,” Matt said cheekily as the girls laughed, just as he had intended. 

“Except about doing things that could get you suspended from school, like kicking people with steel-toed boots,” Patrick added drily. 

“Okay, who is ready to help with chores?” Matt announced gleefully. He was met by three identical groans. 

“I have to go work my feelings out through art,” Kylie declared. 

“I need to practice my piano,” Hailey said. 

“I have homework,” Miranda added. 

“Great!” Matt said as if their answers had all been enthusiastic agreement. “It looks like it’s Kylie’s turn to unload the dishwasher, and Miranda’s turn to dust, and Hailey’s turn to sweep the floor.”

“Ugh, Daaaaaaaaad,” whined Kylie in response. “You don’t even _like_ chores.” 

“But I like having a clean house,” Patrick responded, purposefully misunderstanding her. 

“Not you, Other Dad,” Kylie said, rolling her eyes at him. 

“Well, you’re right,” Matt said thoughtfully, “that’s why I have children to do them for me!” 

Patrick laughed at Matt’s pride in his clever answer and at the answering groans from their children. He meant what he had told them, he and Matt were impulsive and probably too young to have bonded. But they had worked things out. They had helped each other grow up. And now Patrick couldn’t imagine his life any other way.

**Author's Note:**

> I honestly still have other scenes from their lives in this AU so maybe this will turn into a series, lol.


End file.
